Hi everyone.

We are now in the North Island of beautiful New Zealand. Since our last blog we travelled over the southern alps via the Haast Pass on our way back to Christchurch. To break up the journey, we decided to stop of for a night at a small town called Lake Tekapo. While there I dragged Sarah up Mt John, which overlooks the lake. All was forgiven when she discovered the cafe at the top.

The next day it was back on the bus to complete our circuit of the South Island, arriving back at Christchurch late afternoon. That evening there was a big rugby match, Crusaders vs Hurricanes, in the semi final of the Super 14 competition. A few people from our bus decided to get tickets and we mixed with the locals for the evening. It was good fun, and the local team, Crusaders won.

Our bus pass allows us to repeat the first part of our journey up the east coast through Kaikouira, before catching a ferry from Picton. However to save some time, and also due to Sarahs aversion to boats, we got an ultra cheap flight from Christchurch up to Wellington instead. We had a couple of nights in the capital. We spent most of our free day at the Te Papa museum which was quite interesting before that evening where Sarah got her revenge for all those hikes and the Jack Johnson gig by taking me to see the musical Cats. Rivetting stuff. Honestly.

We then got the bus to our current stop, Taupo. Yesterday was probably my favourite day in NZ so far. We did one of the best one day hikes in the world, the Tongariro Crossing. It is 18km through harsh, rugged, volcanic landscape, between Mt Tongariro and Mt Ngauruhoe, which Lord of the Rings fans might recognise as Mt Doom. It was real expedition stuff. The first section is a bit of a warm up before you arrive at a steep incline known as the Devils Staircase. The ridge was really exposed and with the trail covered in snow and ice it was quite dangerous in places, especially with the strong wind. Once at the top and you descend down the other side, all of a sudden the sky is blue and the air quite warm. We were now in the caldera, basically the solidified crater of a volcano. The landscape was from another planet. Steam escaping from the earth, hot turquoise green mineral pools and chunks of hardened lava. After that we climbed another smaller ridge before a gentle downward stroll to the end of the trail.

We have both got sore legs today so are just having a lazy day here in Taupo. Tomorrow we are going to to Rotorua

Love from Blair and Sarah xxx

PS I would have been shot if i forgot to say that Sarah did her first ever Skydive here in Taupo. 12000 feet, a bit of a daredevil these days!